Disclaimer: I do not own Monster High or it's characters.
Chapter 9,
Heath followed Toralei through the woods. Which wasn't exactly easy because she is a Werecat, and the woods made her kitty side a bit more active.
"Reow!" Toralei shouted happily, and she even got down on all fours and ran happily.
"Damn." Heath said with a smile on his face.
"Heh, come on slow poke! How on earth are you going to beat me to the relief route when you are dragging behind." Toralei said and it was true. Heath wasn't running as fast as he could. As a kid he learned that the forest was a dangerous place for a fire element. The entire area was full of easily flammable substances. Dead leaves, twigs, trees, it could all go up in smoke. Heath always worried about this, but it was December. The whole world was colder, and though the school didn't have much snow or frost, the forest floor still had a nice crisp step to it. He didn't fear burning the forest during this time. Well, maybe a little.
"Well, maybe I just like seeing you run." Heath shouted and Toralei turned around and looked at him. She did this to study his face for any hint of him kidding or joking. But, because she was looking at Heath, she wasn't looking at where she was going, and she tripped on a branch.
"Whoa! Ow..." Toralei uttered and Heath slowed down to a stop, and stared down at the werecat.
"Are you ok?" Heath asked, and Toralei pursed her lips. She was going to say 'of course I'm not ok, I fell genius.' But then she looked at Heath. Him with his kind eyes, worried face, and his hand held out to her; and she couldn't stay upset.
"I'm fine. Nothing is broken." Toralei said, and she took Heath's hand. He helped her us and she smiled at how warm Heath's hands were. Which made perfect sense.
"Heh, good. Now, maybe I should have asked this before, but, uh... where do you even live?" Heath asked and Toralei blushed.
"Well, there is a bus stop at the end of the forest. We take that." Toralei said, and this didn't really answer Heath's question, but he knew that Toralei would know the way to her house.
"Ok, as long as you know." Heath said and Toralei smiled. Then it seemed that both teens realized that they were holding hands, and they blushed.
"Uh..." Toralei slowly pulled her hand away, though she wanted to keep a hold of the fire element.
"Actually we are closer to the edge then I thought. I can see the bus sign." Toralei said, and she then walked off.
Heath paused as he watched her walk for a minute. He enjoyed watching her walk, but he also knew that he needed to follow her. Heath stayed about five feet behind Toralei so that he could watch her hips sway. Swish swish. And he swallowed when she suddenly stopped. He looked up and saw that she was right about the bus stop being close.
"So, how long until the next bus?" Heath asked, wondering if they missed it or not.
"Any minute now. Normally I take the bus home, and I never wait long." Toralei said and Heath nodded. A moment of awkward silence past between the two. When one went to talk, their words faltered under the gaze of the other. They were both really happy to see the green bus turn the corner and in their line of sight.
"Heh, see." Toralei said with a lazy gesture to it.
"I told you that the wait wasn't long." Toralei said, and though Heath knew she was right, he started to wonder how all of this would go down. If they could barely wait for a bus without anything to say to one another, then how will this whole baking thing work out? The bus whines when it had to stop, and Toralei pulled out her purse.
"Oh, bus fair." Heath said, and he bit his lip. He wasn't sure how much a bus ride was, but he normally didn't carry cash in his wallet.
"Hey, relax." Toralei nudged him when she said this.
"I'll pay for you. Heck, maybe my F.M. could reimbursed me." Toralei said as if it were no big deal, but Heath was still embarrassed.
"Thanks." Heath said and he rubbed the back of his neck. And that to hopefully change the subject, he asked a question that he has been wondering about.
"Hey, why do you call your mom 'F.M.' anyways?" He asked and Toralei quickly turned and stepped on the bus.
"I got the both of us." She told the bus driver, holding up a few dollar bills for them to grab.
"No skin off my teeth, kitty. As long as you and your buddy don't cause any problems, then I don't care who pays." The bus driver said and Heath thought this sounded a bit odd. He stepped on the vehicle, and he blinked when he saw that the bus driver was actually a normie.
"What, the..." Heath whispered and he turned and saw that this was a regular normie bus. Not a monster one.
"I'm here, Heath." Toralei said, still standing, and that helped Heath snap back into reality. He walked over, but part of him wanted to grab her and drag her off of the bus.
"Toralei." Heath said in a hushed panic. Toralei sat down, and pulled Heath next to her. Once they were safely seated, the driver started the bus and drove off.
"You didn't tell me that this was a normie bus. We could get in trouble. Some people in New Salem are still bothered when they see us in their town." Heath said, and Toralei kept her head down.
"I know, that. Trust me." Toralei said. She feared that one wrong look would send Heath running for the hills. They were still close enough for him to go back.
"Then why are we on this bus?" Heath asked and Toralei sighed.
"This is the same bus that I take home." Toralei said and Heath quietly panted.
"I just don't get why you ride it. Doesn't it make you feel like an outcast, to be the only monster on this bus?" Heath asked and Toralei closed her eyes.
"A little. But I always feel like an outcast." Toralei half-whispered and Heath blinked. He looked at her, specifically so that he could look her in the eyes, but they were still closed.
"Oh... well... surely that can't be true." Heath said, trying to be helpful. Toralei, opened her eye, rolled them, then looked out the window. Heath saw her reflection and he thought that Toralei was about to cry.
"Well, most of the students at Monster High avoid me because I am a bad influence. Which I learned to deal with, I just hung out with the other trouble makers." Toralei's eyes really watered then.
"But then there were times when I helped your friends save the day. Or so to speak. And then the bad kids stopped hanging out with me. They thought that I was too good, and that I must be a informant for the principal." Toralei paused as a tear fell down her cheek and she quickly wiped that away.
"So yeah, I do feel like an outcast on the bus. But so what? I feel like an outcast around people who even recognize me, and especially around those who know me." Toralei said and Heath took a deep breath.
"You know, it's kind of funny. I know that my friends are really accepting of others, and that's great. But because they know me, they try to be extra careful around me. Because I sometimes get excited and then my flame comes out, and I just... burn things." Heath said and Toralei shifted slightly.
"It is too personal if I ask you how you do control your flame?" Toralei asked and Heath glanced at her.
"Oh, most of it is just concentrating on it." Heath said and Toralei quickly glanced at him.
"That's it?" Toralei asked and Heath hesitated.
"Well, not the only thing. But I'm a fire element. And so that kinda makes our flame part of our emotions. It's a way that we can express ourselves. It's not perfect, or whatever, but it's true. So some fire elements have an easier time controlling their flame, because they don't get very emotional." Heath said and Toralei turned to him.
"Are your parents like that?" She asked and Heath shrugged. They past through the town of New Salem, and some people got on, and some people got off, but most of them stared at the werecat and the fire element.
"My dad is pretty cold, he can control his flame really well. It turns out that my mother was pretty energetic, like I am. She learned how to control her flame, and she is still crazy." Heath said and Toralei smiled.
"So I guess you don't need to change in order to control your powers." Toralei said and Heath smiled at her. The two monsters noticed that at one stop, all of the normie got off of the bus, and Heath paused.
"Is this the last stop?" Heath asked, and he started to stand. Toralei reaches up and grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back down.
"No, but this is the last stop in town." Toralei said and Heath looked at her.
"Wow, so I thought you lived in town." Heath said and Toralei bit her lip.
"The house is still in the city limits, yes. But it's secluded from the town." She said and Heath thought that this was odd. Toralei lives in the Normie town, but she lived away from them? That didn't make a lot of sense. Sure a family or two of monsters moved into the new cul-de-sac being built, and they had their problems. But Heath was still getting red flags at all of this.
"Ok, kitty." The bus driver said, and her ears perked up, which Heath thought was adorable.
"Here is the gas station." The driver said, parking the bus at the stop.
"Now it's probably a good idea to take that one with you." The driver turned around to point at Heath, and Toralei nodded.
"Well, I'm just glad that you let us on the bus, Paula." Toralei said, and the driver actually smiled sweetly.
"No problem Toralei. It's always a pleasure to help out Christine's girl." Paula said and Toralei chuckled.
"See you tomorrow." Toralei said and She and Heath got off the bus.
"Cool, I didn't know that you were friends with the bus driver." Heath said and Toralei shrugged.
"She knows the F.M. Heath. Paula and Christine have been friends since they were our age." Toralei explained and Heath nodded.
"So, um..." Heath wasn't sure how to say this.
"Where is your house?" Heath asked and Toralei blinked.
"It's just down the road. First house on the left." Toralei said, pointing in the direction, and the two started walking.
"So, I talked about my parents. What about yours?" Heath asked and Toralei struggled internally.
"What about them?" Toralei asked and Heath shrugged.
"Oh, I don't know." Heath admitted.
"Maybe I just want to be a little prepared for when I meet them, in like 60 seconds." Heath said, and Toralei seemed to relax at this.
"Oh, well, Christine doesn't seem to understand the concept of personal space. She will probably poke and prod at you, especially if the contact makes a noise that she enjoys." Toralei said and Heath smiled.
"Heh, ok. That gives me a pretty good idea." Heath said and Toralei tucked some fur behind her ear and gave a nervous chuckle. Heath did have an amazing smile.
"So, what about your dad?" Heath asked.
"Oh, well I doubt Harry will be home just yet. But- oh, there is my house." Toralei pointed to the building. It kind of reminded Heath of a home on a southern plantation. It had a porch, a second floor landing, dozens of potted plants, an American flag hanging out for all to see, and a bronze crucifix on the front door, just beneath the knocker.
"It... looks nice. But it's different from what I imagined." Heath said as they walked towards the building.
"Is that a bad thing." Toralei asked and Heath shook his head.
"No, it's not that. I just feel like this wouldn't be your home. You seem a bit more..." Heath paused as he tried to find the right words, and Toralei expected to be insulted.
"Complex." Heath decoded this word was the best, but it still through Toralei off.
"What do you mean?" She asked and Heath put his hands in his pockets.
"Well this house is like stepping back in time. To a place where the whole world seems simple. But you're not simple, your complex. I would imagine that your house would be pretty eclectic and complex as well." Heath said, and Toralei smiled at him.
"Ok, well, why don't you wait out here, and I'll go get the F.M." Toralei said, and Heath nodded. She walked in the house, and Heath sighed as he watched her tail switch and her hip sway so majestically. After a moment, the door swung opened, and out stepped...
"A normie?" Heath whispered as the shirt woman ran over to him, and started shaking his hand.
"Oh, my dear, you must be Heath. I have heard so much about you, and I am just so excited that you could help us out today. Aren't we excited, Toralei, of course we are excited. I mean, you are just perfect, darling, just perfect." The woman said, and Heath stared at the human.
"Uh, thank you." Heath said, still stunned.
"Oh, I bet you're hungry aren't you. I know that growing boys need to eat, eat, eat, to keep up with all of the calories that they are burning. Does your monster breed grow? Do you burn more calories then others? Whatever, everyone eats, and I am more then happy to feed you." The woman said, and Heath took a deep breath. She really enjoyed talking.
"I'm sorry, but uh... who are you?" Heath asked. He was here to help Toralei's mother, but he was being ambushed by this random normie.
"Oh, I'm sorry, dear. I'm Toralei's mother, Christine." She said, and Heath blinked, and glanced at Toralei, who had stayed beside the front door.
"I'm just so glad that you agreed to help me with my baking. You are such a peach, well not really, but you know what I mean. I am just so grateful." Christine said, and she gave Heath a big hug. As this happened Heath looked at Toralei, and Toralei looked away.
